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The Tip of the Iceberg: An Exhibition of MFA Research

WHEN: From Wednesday, April 13 until Sunday April 16

Opening Reception: Thursday, April 14 from 5 until 7 p.m.

WHERE: Illingworth Kerr Gallery, Alberta College of Art + Design

This week the Illingworth Kerr Gallery will feature work from our graduate cohort's first year of study in ACAD's MFA in Craft Media.

The core of the MFA in Craft Media is practice-led, autonomous research sustained through five Graduate Studio courses. Alongside studio work, students work to advance established knowledge in their chosen field(s), as they investigate methodologies for research, pedagogy and professional practice.

These works are examples from the first two of the five studio courses of the program. Graduate Studio I and II are a period of experimentation of self-directed inquiry into the materials, processes and/or concepts that inform the graduate student’s practice. Each of these core studio courses build up upon the last, as graduate students continue to pursue studio-based research through the creation of new work.

Over the three remaining semesters students will now focus directly on the creation of their Thesis Project including an Exhibition and Paper.

The participating artists are:

Sharon Hogg - Be Still You Born of Tempest

I am interested in the relation of self to environment. In particular I want to isolate that transformative event that occurs when self meets a new environment. By self, I mean a precipitous energy with inherent purpose and intent. By environment, I mean a fully saturated steady state solution, a balance of forces within a physical volume. And by transformative event, I mean a rupture point; a shift in perception that illuminates (not a new) but a hidden agency at play.

The ripples around a rock in a smooth looking river reveal the current. If I add one more grain of salt to a fully saturated salt solution, fallout ensues. Or in the everyday world, when the elevator doors open and it’s pretty full, but I enter anyway because I have an agenda with places to go and people to see, then everyone is initially squished before ultimately rearranging around me. There was a static environment, an energy disturbed it. It’s different now and there’s no going back.

Underlying physical structures and interrelated forces are revealed and questioned as I work to thread new material topologies. Environments and topologies are linked (but not interchangeable) words. By environment I mean an immersive volume, a surrounding space around the viewer and/or object. By topology, I mean a linking of materially or dimensionally different elements. Working with woven textile structures forms and gravity I explore the ways that two-sided, two-dimensional objects can occupy volumes and define spaces.

Scaled in a range relating to the physical size of the human viewer, my arrangements of fibre are at once planar, sculptural and architectural. Influences include theories of simultaneity, philosophies of agential realism and the rich traditions of weaving and indigo dye.

Peter Sloan - Subject Distillations

My inspiration draws upon a lifelong engagement with the natural world. A walk in a forest, along a beach or any natural space instils perpetual awe within my psyche and has habitualized my artistic receptivity. The work in this show represents ongoing research and a journey of interpretation which is meant to distil and capture a measure of the aesthetic appeal found in natural forms. Like in the Arts and Crafts movement in the 19th century, my work is intended to summon nature, not imitate it.

Using imagery derived from botanical sources, mostly Lobaria Pulmonaria lichen, this work represents extensive transitions culminating in the variety of work seen in this show. In Edinburgh my research led to images and objects garnered from photos taken of lichen while in Haida Gwaai.

The process to arrive at these pieces involves taking and choosing photographs, adjusting them in Photoshop by mirroring and kaleidoscope and selecting suitable portions which were then taken into 3D rendering software. This is a long and deliberate process which uses the power of computers to refine and shape virtually before they are created into solid objects. From there the models are carved or printed using CNC technology to be used in a variety of ways, in jewellery, printmaking, and plaster casting, and as physical stepping stones for unique interdisciplinary applications.

With my background of sculpting, mould-making and printmaking, these models present diverse opportunities for experimentation of transferable skills and techniques. This avenue of study led to questions regarding Rorschach Ink blots, the Pareidolia effect, semiotics and subjective interpretations. The work represents distillations of natural forms that become signs or maps the viewer interoperates based on their own personal subjective lens. The jewellery, sculpture and prints derived from this line enquiry contain hints of natural forms, but are then organized and manifested into objects, familiar and intriguing, and awaken distant subconscious atavistic understandings.

Carlos Rojas

Carlos is Mexican-born artist who lives and works in Montreal and Calgary. His art negotiates the hybridity and fluidity of identities by exploring new forms of mobility. His research revolves around identity, diasporic art, migrations, and transformation/transmutation. Carlos is inspired by pop, inspired by Pop, contemporary, and Mexican culture; folklore; myths, politics and religion. In his artistic practice, he uses techniques such as traditional stop-motion animation, ceramics and recycled art to reflect the influence of his origin and his new environment and exploring the process of adapting to his new territory.

Please join us for a celebration of all their hard work on April 14, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.

The show will be on exhibit from Wednesday, April 13 thru Saturday, April 16.